Agri min may introduce liquid fertilisers

Panel report says this would increase soil productivity.

In an effort to revolutionise sale of nutrient-based fertilisers, the ministry of agriculture for the first time is considering a proposal to introduce liquid fertilisers. This is based on the recommendation of a working group set up to study and recommend measures to increase agricultural production.

Their report says micro irrigation can be combined with controlled application of fertilisers and other needed nutrients. To this effect, the group has suggested usage of liquid fertilisers, officials said.

Currently India does not have facilities for producing liquid fertilisers. Therefore, the group is of the view that liquid fertilisers should not only be freed from import duties but also be made eligible for subsidies in line with newly introduced nutrient-based subsidy scheme.

The recommendation has cited the case of Tamil Nadu where productivity has considerably gone up by combining the usage of micro irrigation and liquid fertilisers, otherwise known as “precision farming”.

Liquid fertilisers, usually a mixture of urea and ammonium nitrate dissolved in water, are directly used as a plant and soil supplement. As with solid fertilisers, plants do not have to convert nitrogen into usable form. However, experts said it also had some disadvantages if the area using the fertilisers was not protected. Liquid nitrogen flowing into ground water imbalanced the ocean ecosystem, they said.

These recommendations have been made in the light of the fact that while average fertiliser consumption has gone up by 50 per cent since 2004-05 productivity of foodgrains grew only by 10 per cent during the period. The government has introduced a nutrient-based subsidy policy this year and thereafter subsidy has been introduced for micronutrients like boron and zinc.

The recommendations also include fortifying the infrastructure for soil testing so as to encourage farmers to buy the right kind of nutrient mix in fertilisers. For this, the report has suggested issuing “soil health cards to all farmers by using resources under the National Project on Management of Soil Health and Fertility as well as the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana.

Besides, private sector companies have been urged to intensify nutrient management efforts by the state governments by formulating and introducing new products, including crop and location-specific customised fertilisers. These could be included under the Fertiliser (Control) Order, 1985 in consultation with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.